Spool



(No Model.)

W. H. HOLDEN.

SPOOL. No. 548,640. Patented Oct. 29, 1895;

11v Vim/2'02? UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

WILLIAM H. HOLDEN, OF WATERLOO, IOWA.

SPOOL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 548,640, dated October29, 1895.

A plication filed A ril 13, 1898. Renewed April 13, 1895. Serial No.545,658. (No model.)

To all whom it mag concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. HOLDEN, a citizen of the United States,residing in Waterloo, in the county of Black Hawk and State of Iowa,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Spools; and I dohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, which will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, and to letters and numerals of referencemarked thereon, which form part of this specification, in which- Figure1 is a perspective view of my improved spool. Fig. 2 is a longitudinalsectional View of thesame, and Fig. 3 is a detail view of one of theheads of the spool.

My invention relates to that class of spools in which the barrel andheads are made in separate parts and assembled.

The object of the invention is to provide a spool of this class in whichthe parts may be assembled at the place of manufacture or Shipped intheir unassembled condition and assembled at the places of use or sale,and that without the use of tools of any sort.

The invention consists, primarily, in a spool having a barrel and twoannular heads, each of which has a barrel-opening, into which projectsthe free end or ends of a biting or clamping tongue or tongues, whichwill permit the heads to be forced inwardly upon the ends of the barrel,but will firmly bite the barrel when outward pressure is exerted on saidheads.

The invention also consists in the construction and combination of partswhich will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the barrel, formed of anysuitable material and of any desired length, and 2 2 are the spoolheads.Each of these heads consists of a fiat annulus having its innerperiphery dished outwardly and formed with a plurality of biting orclamping tongues or prongs 3, four being shown, though a greater orlesser number may be employed. The inner end edges of these tongues formthe walls of the central barrelopeningat. This opening is preferablyslightly smaller than the circumference of the barrel, so that thetongues 3 will firmly engage the barrel as they are forced inwardlythereupon,

or, in other words, so that there will be a snug fit and an outwardinclination of the tongues. It follows, therefore, that any straintending to force the spool-heads apart will only cause the tongues tobite more firmly into or upon the barrel, since the tendency of thetongues will then be to straighten and lie in the plane of the heads.So, also, the dishing of the heads not only strengthens them, butimparts an outward curvature or inclination to the tongues in the firstinstance, so that when they frictionally engage the barrel in beingforced inwardly they will tend to straighten when outward strain isexerted, and thus their inner edges will firmly bite upon the barrel.Moreover, if for any reason it should be necessary to lessen thecapacity of a spool it is obvious that this may be accomplished bysimply forcing one or both of the heads 2 inwardly.

The tighter the thread, cord, or wire is Wound upon the barrel the morefirmly will the heads be held; but this would not be the case if thebarrel ends were slotted to form longitudinal springs to engage and holdan annular head. Moreover, where an annular head has slight segmentalnotches in its inner periphery to receive corresponding prongs on thebarrel ends no such biting-tongues as mine are formed, and the headsmust be held on by bending up the said tongues against their outerfaces. I

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is- 1. A spoolcomprising a barrel and heads each provided with a centralbarrel-opening and a biting tongue or tongues projecting into saidopening and biting firmly upon the barrel when outward strain is exertedupon the head but permitting the head to be forced in- Wardly upon thebarrel, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. A spool comprising a barrel and annular heads each having a pluralityof biting or clamping tongues, the inner edges of which form the wallsof the barrelopening to grasp the same and hold the heads againstoutward movement, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. A spool, comprising a barrel and annular dished heads, each formed inits dished portion with a plurality of biting or clamping tongues, theinner end edges of which form the walls of the barrel opening,substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. A spool head formed of an annulus having a plurality of biting orclamping tongues on its inner periphery the inner free ends of the saidtongues forming the marginal walls of the barrel-opening, substantiallyas and for the purpose set forth.

WILLIAM H. HOLDEN. Witnesses:

S. M. HOFF, J. M. GROAT.

